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Life-Long Commitment

Beginning with the conception of the prototype 726 feller buncher, Assembly Supervisor Tim Koniuch has seen it all during his long career at Tigercat.

— Chris McMillan

In June 1987 Tim Koniuch started working at MacDonald Steel in the maintenance department under maintenance supervisor Jim Wood. At that time, MacDonald Steel was supplying fabricated components to various mobile equipment manufacturers. During his years at MacDonald Steel, Tim completed his industrial millwright mechanic apprenticeship, receiving his license in 1992.

In late 1991, as work began on the prototype Tigercat 726 feller buncher, Jim Wood was brought in to work with the design team to assemble the machine. As the project progressed, Jim asked Tim to join the assembly team. The 726 shipped in April 1992 bound for a live, inwoods show in southern Georgia. However, it was not quite complete. Tim made quite a few road trips to the south to help finish the machine, and ready it for future demos and its eventual sale. “I think it was close to three months I was gone,” recalls Tim. “I’d come back every third weekend.”

A few months later, Tim would start working on the second 726. Tim jokes, “I guess you could say, that’s when it was game on!” The small Tigercat team built around 30 or so machines at the MacDonald Steel plant in Cambridge, Ontario before owner Ken MacDonald purchased a dedicated plant in nearby Brantford. The building needed to be outfitted with cranes, assembly bays and a paint booth, so Tim and others started preparing the building for production. “We moved to Brantford to set things up and start building machines. Unfortunately, Jim Wood didn’t come with us,” said Tim.

The new home for Tigercat would see a few firsts, such as the prototype 720 drive-to-tree feller buncher in 1993, Tigercat’s first track feller buncher, the 853E, in 1994 and the first Tigercat 630 skidder in 1996. Tim fondly recalls participating in all these projects. “With the 853 I was working with Larry Almond and Grant Somerville, and we also built the first skidder where I worked with Jon Cooper.”

During this time, Tim also performed field service work. “I spent a lot of time on the road when I was younger and before I was married with kids. I spent a lot of time going down to do service work, a lot of warranty jobs and PR work with our dealers. It was a great experience for a young person.”
The Tigercat employee team poses for a photo outside the first dedicated Tigercat assembly plant with the prototype 853E feller buncher in 1994. Tim is leaning against the front of the cab.
As production started to outgrow the current building, a second Tigercat facility was purchased in Paris, Ontario for the 853E and 845 track feller bunchers. Eventually drive-to- tree feller buncher production would move to 54 Morton Avenue in Brantford. Not long after, Tim moved over to Morton Avenue to take on the role of Shop Floor Supervisor.

The facility served as a subassembly plant for all products as well as drive-to-tree feller buncher assembly. The sub-assembly area produced instrument and electrical panels, saw heads, engines, and cabs. Tim initially supervised both machine assembly and sub-assembly. As production increased, he focused on machine assembly.

“It was quite a few years that I did the wheeled bunchers. Then I was asked if I wanted to go to 140 [Consolidated Drive, Paris] and get involved with the track machines again.” Tim went to work at the track buncher assembly plant and when the building at 160 Consolidated Drive was completed in 2014, Tim and the track machine assembly group moved there. Currently, Tim is a final assembly supervisor for the 800 series track products.

Tim comments on change he has witnessed over the years. “One person used to build the whole machine right through to the set-up, final assembly and even loading the machine. Watching manufacturing evolve over the years and trying to be more efficient has been a big change.”
Tim Koniuch prepares the prototype Tigercat 630 skidder for shipping in 1996.
When asked to sum up his time at Tigercat, Tim replies, “I can remember when we started building the first few machines and we would sit there and chuckle. We couldn’t believe that Ken was getting into building tree cutting machines, and we couldn’t imagine how big it would get and how quickly. We saw the 100th machine, then the 200th machine, and next thing you know it’s the 500th machine and now we are over 30,000. It’s just mind blowing, hard to believe. And it’s good to know you’ve been a part of it pretty much from day one. You don’t find it in this day and age – somewhere that you can work for your whole life. And to be fortunate enough to work for a man like Ken MacDonald is just amazing.”